Canucks vs Wild: what we learned from their 2-1 loss

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The Vancouver Canucks may not be making the playoffs, but they are still finding ways to give the fans that are showing up to Rogers Arena things to cheer about.

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They came into Thursday’s 2-1 loss to the Minnesota Wild having lost three of their previous four home games.

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Losing seems a constant likelihood, given the talented players who have departed and the long list of injuries as well.

Instead of scoring, the Canucks have found other ways to keep the fans involved.

This night featured a very fine tribute to Gino Odjick pre-game — it was First Nations Celebration night as well — which put the fans in a good mood.

The first period was entertaining as the teams traded goals.

The Wild did take the lead in the second, but it was an open, flowing frame as well.

And in the third period, the Canucks pushed for a comeback, which they didn’t manage, but the fans roared, especially when Kyle Burroughs levelled Brandon Duhaime in a fight.

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And Thatcher Demko, making his second straight start since returning from a groin injury that had kept him out since Dec. 1, was excellent again.

Here’s what we learned…

NEXT GAME

Saturday

Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Vancouver Canucks

4 p.m., Rogers Arena. TV: CBC, Sportsnet. Radio: AM 650.

Minnesota Nice

It’s been an uneven season for Brock Boeser. He’s been mostly better in the second half of the season, but he was so poor in the first half of the season, it would have been hard to be worse.

Scoring one-timer goals has never been his forte but the finish on his power play goal in the first was a very fine finish.

But it’s still strange to think he has just 12 goals on the year.

Comeback PK

The Canucks killed all the Wild power plays.

They’ve now killed 15 of the last 17 penalties they’ve taken, pushing their penalty-kill percentage to 67.4 per cent on the year.

They’re still about one percentage point shy of the all-time worst mark.

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The pricey jerseys

The Canucks’ efforts to put out different warmup jerseys has been impressive. They’ve found ways to integrate a good number of their off-ice theme nights with the team’s on-ice look by wearing warm-up jerseys that involve local artists and local producers.

The one flaw in their efforts is the sticker price for the jerseys because the team sells after they’ve been worn.

The price — in the hundreds of dollars — is because they are limited-edition and custom-made, without the economies of scale large manufacturers have.

In the future, if the Canucks are going to produce more, which would obviously reduce the per-sweater price and there have been discussions about it, they’d have to get the designs to Adidas a year in advance. To date, they’ve done their designer search much closer to the actual games, to keep things fresh.

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